[MUD-Dev] Wilderness

[Matt Mihaly]

On Thu, 9 Aug 2001, John Buehler wrote:
> Matt Mihaly writes:
 
>> I see. Eliminating the desire to stand apart or above others will
>> make for some...interesting...games. No winning or demonstrating
>> superior ability. That's fine, I guess, though it's not much of a
>> game.

> Not to you.  As you say, there are myriad motivations for playing
> MUDs.  As for winning, I absolutely expect there to be
> competitions.  But they would be competitions without the hard
> edge of risk.  When a casual player plays a game of chess or go,
> they play and they win or they lose.  They aren't risking money,
> future time investment or any such thing.  That style of
> competition is just fine as far as I'm concerned.

Well, they generally are risking at least some sense of ego. It's a
rare game player who doesn't care at all about winning. And as soon
as you care, there's a risk (the risk of disappointment).
 
> Okay, I'll put it a different way.  Players come to the games
> because they have something that the players aren't otherwise
> finding in their lives.  If they were finding it, they wouldn't
> bother with the games.  This is one reason that I fear virtual
> lives.  They're a bit like hallucinogenic drugs.  Some people will
> become so enamoured with their virtual life that they won't bother
> with their real one.  Some can handle drugs and not tune out
> society.  Others can't.  So I look to the Disneyland model instead
> of the virtual life model in hopes of providing a taste of
> something entertaining without it naturally tending to draw people
> into an environment that they find more appealing than the real
> deal.

Yeah, I'll buy that. I was walking around some outdoor botanical
gardens today with a couple friends, and remarked that as soon as
games can deliver an identical experience to me, I won't leave
them. I'm a wanna-be junkie!

--matt

_______________________________________________
MUD-Dev mailing list
MUD-Dev at kanga.nu
https://www.kanga.nu/lists/listinfo/mud-dev